Assassin's Fate: Book III of the Fitz and the Fool trilogy

If you are the kind of person who tears up easily when you read, better have a box of Kleenex ready. In this final volume of the series, Fitz, the Fool, and their companions continue on their travels to rescue Fitz’s daughter Bee from her abduction by the Servants from the far-off island of Clerres, home of the Fool’s prophetic people. Narration is shared between Fitz and Bee, who fights hard to survive her harsh captivity and becomes ever stronger with the wolf Nighteye’s mental companionship. The resolution won for them is hard fought, and as always, Fitz suffers much before he is allowed to rest. The entire Fitz and the Fool series has read to me as if Hobb is saying farewell to the world she has created through all the books she has written over the years. In the previous novel, Fitz and the others met the characters of the Rain Wilds Chronicles, and in this one, they join forces with people from the Liveship Traders books. Brashen, Althea, Paragon the liveship and more join Fitz on his quest to avenge Bee. This volume presents some exciting developments in regard to the nature of the liveships and their relationship to dragons, too. This is a long book. At times it’s gripping, but anyone who craves constant action might find some parts of it a bit of a struggle. Travel isn’t always very exciting, and much of the book is spent simply getting to Clerres. (There’s plenty of action once they get there, though.) Fitz also maintains his habit of introspection and worry over his role and how he might fail the Fool and all the others he cares for, something that doesn’t really lend itself to rapid pacing. The end of the novel is both right and emotionally wrenching. The resolution of the partnership of Fitz, the Fool, and Nighteyes is perfect both in regard to the special bond shared by the three of them and in how it connects back to their early adventures. At the same time, the way Hobb gets them to that point was hard for me to read because I’ve come to love these characters so much. She gives us George R. R. Martin levels of physical suffering toward the end of the book, and I wanted better for Fitz. Yet that ending also allows Hobb to show the profound impact Fitz's life has had in a way that's very moving. It really is all very masterfully written and shows Hobb at her very best as an author. If you have eagerly followed Fitz’s story over the years, this book is a necessary read and very highly recommended. Just keep those tissues handy. An ARC of this novel was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. And then I bought it, because I had to have it.

I am so happy that Robin Hobb continued the stories about the Fitz and the Fool! The ending was a perfect wrap up of the whole story and the characters all grew through each adventure. A fantastic story well worth your time to read!

This is a series that has to be read in its entirety to be appreciated. The three trilogies dealing with Fits and the Fool are the most satisfying, and I must admit that at first I viewed the Liveship and Dragon series as interruptions. Realizing that a universe was being created put those two intervening series in perspective. Much has been written about Fitz's inability to learn. He learned. He learned that he was always left behind. Left by Verify, Nighteyes, Burrich. Molly, and especially his Beloved. Two things gave me hope that things would work out for him in the end, Nighteyes reaction when the Fool returned in the Tawney Man series ("We are whole again.") and the cube the Fool left behind for Fritz. Being the Fool's Catalyst always made him feel that he was mainly a tool, not the true friend he wanted to be. He lived with constant doubt that he never was or would be enough. He found peace in his later years with Molly, but Molly died and left him with a child he didn't understand and didn't know how to interact. He did the best he could. He was witted, he had the Skill, but he was human and always left behind. This book brought everything full circle. The child with whom he had the least relationship, Bee, was, at the last the person who understood him best. She had been kidnapped, abused, beaten, maimed, and came out stronger for it. She was the new White Prophet and she had the Skill. She would be trained by Verity's queen, she had Per by her side, and was the perfect combination of her two father's, Fits and the Fool. The true path had been found. Dragons and Elderlings were again alive and prospering, wrongs had been righted and avenged, the evil of Clerres had been destroyed. After carving his Nighteyes Dragon, Fritz could finally ask for what he really wanted, that the Fool show him that he was more than just a Catalyst and never leave him again. The Fool could finally show what he meant by there being "no limits" between them and enter the Nighteyes Dragon with him making them both enough. As nighters said long ago,We are whole again." The ending is perfect. Read the entire series. You'll understand and appreciate good story telling. Well done, Miss Hobb. It's been along and satisfying ride. Thank you.

Over the years I have spent more time with Fitz and the Fool than any other literary character. I have reread the books over and over and still feel like there is more to know. Although not everyone realizes it, but these books are part of a much larger story. The Rain Wild Chronicles and the Live Ship Traders are wonderful series in their own right but in reality they add complexity and depth to the larger story of the Fitz and the Fool. I myself didn't realize this until just a few years ago and although I had heard that these other "stories" touched on the Farseer world, I didn't really take that seriously. Then I finally read the Live Ship Traders and I fell in love again with a story that gave texture and value to the Fool, Tintaglia and all that is to come. It's a bit like eating apple pie without the ice cream. Is the apple pie still good, yes of course but the ice cream makes it great. In anticipation of this book I decided not only to read through the books again but to read the Rain Wild Chronicles which I had not previously done. I resisted based on the idea that although I loved Science Fantasy, I didn't really love stories that centered on dragons. I'm ashamed to have put off reading these books. They give a solid foundation where before there was only sand. There were so many "ah-ha!" moments that it gave me a renewed sense of excitement for this book. In order to fully appreciate this book, it's necessary to have at least read the other 8 books. This book is like the final movement of a Beethoven masterpiece. You cannot have one without the other. No matter how it makes you feel, it must be played out. This book does give you a few answers to things such as why Icefyre buried himself in ice all those years ago and a better understanding of what actually happened to the elderlings. You finally get to experience Clarres in an up close and frightening way. In the past books it was only briefly touched up and I was always wanting more. I got my wish in this book. From the first page we are tumbled right back to where Robin Hobb left us in Fool's Quest. For me this is the culmination of a 12 year journey and I can only hope the end isn't really the end. I can't say much more otherwise I risk dropping spoilers. It was worth every single tear.

I'm really conflicted with this book, as I loved it, but after I finished reading it I've been in a book depression for the past 2 months. Leading up to the release of this book, the third novel in the third Fitz and the Fool Trilogy, I reread all of Robin Hobb's books in the Realm of the Elderlings. It was my third time reading most of the books, and it was an absolutely excellent reading experience to read all of the books in a row one after the other. Assassin's Fate is an excellent end to many different plot lines, and I loved how through the group's travels throughout this book all of the characters from all of the previous books meet up in one way or another. It was so interesting seeing all of my beloved viewpoint characters through the eyes of Fitz, now that they aren't necessarily in the starring role in this story. The book is written incredibly well, as always, and it was a pleasure to read, even when it was tough to see the words on the page with the tears that were in my eyes. There are so many excellent moments in this story, but as this is the third book of the trilogy, the ending is what will define this book. In every other third book in Hobb's trilogies, the endings have been so perfect that everything she put her characters through is worth it. The ending of Fool's Fate however, has me severely conflicted as parts of it are perfect, but I absolutely hated other aspects of the ending. To talk about it though, I do have to fully spoil the book, so don't read on if you haven't already read the book. -------------------------- [FULL SPOILERS BELOW] -------------------------- Going into this book, I had a strong suspicion that this would be the end of Fitz and the Fool's stories, I mean hell, the book's name is Fool's Fate. Still, through the first false death of Fitz, and the second real death, I kept waiting and hoping that something would change. I kept waiting for Fitz to scream "No! I'm the Changer, I change things!" Instead all I got was a brutal and disgusting end for my favorite literary character I've ever read. Even worse than that though, is how Fitz essentially murdered the Fool. He fought so hard to heal his Beloved, and yet when he didn't have enough strength to finish his Stone Wolf, he dragged the Fool in with him. It wasn't even like the Fool was dying, I mean since Fitz healed him, he would probably would have lived for decades or centuries longer. Alternatively, it's a perfect ending for Fitz and the Fool to create their Skill Stone Dragon in the shape of Night Eyes, and sink themselves into it where they will be together as one for the rest of eternity. I also assume that Hobb wanted to end Fitz and the Fool's story in a way that she could never bring them back and write something new for them. If they had survived, if she wanted to write another story in this world, they would have effected the story she could tell. So I completely understand what the author was going for. I still wish there was some other way to get to that ending in a way that wasn't so oppressive and depressing. Throughout the nine books featuring Fitz, he's been put through so much suffering, and I was so happy to see him get his happy ending in the second trilogy. To then see him have such a horrible ending, where half of his body is covered in Skill Silver, and the other half is being eaten alive by parasites while all of his loved ones watch on, is a bit of a slap in the face to the reader. Hobb could have easily given him a more dignified ending than the one he received. I would have loved an epilogue set decades in the future where Fitz and the Fool could have created their stone wolf with dignity. However, when I think about it, if she wants to write more books with the extended cast of characters in this world, and you want Fitz and the Fool's stories to end, it does create a very difficult problem. With Fitz's healing powers, if it wasn't incurable flesh eating bacteria, he could be healed or heal himself and he wouldn't have to immediately make his stone wolf. However, I think that it wouldn't have been as painful for the reader and for Fitz if he hadn't been left for dead under the Whites' fortress. Then people could have realized that he had been given the Traitor's Death from the dart that hit his neck, and maybe he could have done something to slow the parasites. He could have had more time with his loved ones, especially his daughter Bee, before he was a walking corpse. Then he still could have made his stone wolf with the Fool's help, but it could have been a more joyous experience than the disgusting, saddening, and infuriating end that we did get. The end of the book just really bothered me, and I was depressed about it for awhile, something that's never happened from reading a book before. It was also slightly annoying that we still never got any more info on the Fool. Again though, I completely understand why Hobb did this, and let Beloved/The Fool/Amber take his/her secrets to the grave. I'm sure that every reader views The Fool in a different way, and if the author had revealed the truth about the character, it would have ruined many readers' image of him/her. Personally, I've always felt that the Fool was a woman, that dressed as a man when she came to serve Fitzchivalry's grandfather, King Shrewd. There are multiple times where The Fool helped other characters dress and act as men, and Bee even mirrored that when the White's mistook her as a boy. I also felt like if the Fool was born a man, he wouldn't have felt so strongly about not letting Fitz see him naked at the end of Fool's Assassin. However, I could definitely be wrong as you'd think the Whites would have known that The Fool was a girl (especially after all the torture they put him through), and yet they always refer to him as a man, and they search for the Unexpected Son that he had sired. I'd always wondered what would have been different if Fitz had met the Fool as a woman, and it was really interesting when in this book at one point while they were on Paragon with Beloved dressed as Amber, he thought to himself that the Fool made a becoming woman (or something like that). It's so hard to choose a rating for this book, as it was written so well, and it elicited such strong emotions from me. I loved reading the book, but mostly hated the ending. In the end I think I'm going to give it four stars, even though it's a great book and an interesting end to a character that readers saw grow for his whole life. I would definitely recommend this series, but I know that the biggest complaint many people have for these books, is that the author is so tough on her characters at times, and that complaint for me has always been nullified from the perfect endings Robin Hobb gives her characters. However, for Fool's Fate, the most brutal and torturous moments of Fitz's life is also his ending, and while it leaves the world open for more stories without the White Prophet and his Catalyst, it still sucks.

The entire Elderling Series by Robin Hobb has become one of my favorite all time series and this final book does an amazing job of bringing the entire 16 book series (Farseer Trilogy, Liveship Trilogy, Tawny Man Trilogy, Rain Wilds Chronicles, Fitz & The Fool Trilogy) together for a cohesive and satisfying ending. I truly could not put this series down, it was sooo good that I finished it all in a little over a month!

First, I’ve been reading this series since not long after it first came out. Fantasy has always been my first and most enduring love. You do have to read the series to understand this book. The blurb calls this a stunning conclusion to the series. It’s right. Robin Hobb is one of the very few (Less than five now) established authors I still auto-buy. Price of books and my anemic book buying cash and all. But I always buy the books about Fitz. I bought this one release week and I’ll be completely honest, I had trouble getting into it. Passive voice. It’s my Achilles heel in reading and it will always throw me out of the story. So when I first picked up this story, hoping to escape, it irritated me enough to put it down when I caught several instances of passive voice in the first few pages. I’m glad I finally got around to picking it back up again. Man, when it finally grabbed me by the throat it pinned me down and held me almost unable to breathe for an entire weekend. By that I mean I got NONE of my chores done, my hubs brought me dinner because I kept forgetting to eat and I forgot to make coffee one day because I was SO ENTHRALLED by the story. COFFEE people, I forgot COFFEE! Now. I read fast, but this book is almost 900 pages long, I started it late at night on Friday and just finished it. A little before midnight on Sunday. I didn’t do much of ANYTHING except read all weekend because I had to know what happened to Fitz and Beloved. Had to. It’s really good. I cried. A lot. Ugly, messy, cry, and I’m still content with how the story ended. I wish it hadn’t HAD to, because these were the only characters by this author that I connect with, but it’s still a fantastic conclusion. Even though my heart aches. I’ll miss these characters, miss looking forward to new books with them. Badly. Sadly, Bee doesn’t do it for me as a character. Somehow, I had also missed that Beloved is gender-fluid throughout the whole series, and though they aren’t named that way, it’s quite clear when I think about it. I suppose I could be coding it, but I really doubt it. Probably one of reasons I’ve loved these books, and reread them so many times for so many years. I will say: Content Warning on a deliberate mis-gendering by Fitz for Beloved. That stung a bit to read. It worked for the characters, story, and world though, so it’s not a complaint. Just a warning.

Finishing the Realm of the Elderlings series was a complete privilege. I’m sad it is over, but what a way to complete the story!